Thursday, January 30, 2014

The Shores of Love [شاطئ الغرام] (Laila Mourad) - (1950)

This is a 27" x 39" Egyptian poster designed by Wahib Fahmy to promote
the 1950 Henry Barakat 125-minute black-and-white film The Shores
of Love [shati al-gharam] starring Laila Mourad based on story and
screenplay by Henry Barakat with dialogue by Ali Al-Zarkani and
Youssef Isa and cinematography by Abelhalim Nasr. Plot summary: The
Egyptian mediterranean resort of Mersa Matruh provides a picturesque
setting for this romantic drama. Adel [Hussein Sedki] was a young man
who did not know the meaning of love. He spent his time at
racetracks, dance halls and in the arms of prostitutes. While on a
beach vacation at Mersa Matruh, Adel fell in love with a schoolteacher
named Laila [Laila Mourad] and asked her father for permission to
marry her. The father agreed and Adel took Laila with him back to
Cairo. Adel's aunt and her husband were surprised by his sudden
marriage, because the aunt had been planning for him to marry her
daugher Mona so she could use Adel's wealth to lift her family out of
bankruptcy. On the other hand Adel's mistress Soheir [Taheya
Cariocca] had also been hoping to marry him. The aunt devised a
scheme to disrupt the marriage by accusing Laila of being unfaithful
and she succeeded with it because Adel believed her. He sent Laila
back to her father in Mersa Matruh. However Adel then learned his
aunt was just after his money and that the accusation was false, so he
went to Mersa Matruh to correct the mistake and bring his wife back to
Cairo again.